Fitbit Charge 3 (Sleep Tracker)

Description

The Fitbit Charge 3 is one of the leading fitness trackers available right now, and as far as sleep trackers go, Fitbit’s Charge series has the absolute best sleep tracker that you will find on the market today. It not only tracks when and how much you sleep, but it will also give you information about when you were in what sleep stages. This information can be extremely beneficial when you are trying to figure out how and why your sleep schedule is affecting you.

The sleep tracker is not the only great feature in the Fitbit Charge 3. As far as your typical exercise tracking, Fitbit Charge has pretty much everything you could ask for, including pace and distance tracking, along with over 15 different types of exercise you can track, ranging from yoga to swimming. Furthermore, it has move and guided breathing reminders, all-day calorie tracking, Fitbit pay capabilities (with the special edition), female health tracking, and an awesome battery life!

There is a newer model that has been released by Fitbit called the Fitbit Charge 4, but the Charge 3 is still a really great option. You will find a comparison of the two watches below. Also, a comparison to the Fitbit Inspire HR and a more in-depth explanation of the various features that really make this watch stand out is included.

Sleep Tracker

The best part about having a Fitbit Charge, regardless of the version, is that it is an awesome sleep tracker. There are less expensive Fitbit models that also have sleep trackers, but they do not give you information about sleep stages, which can be invaluable information to have.

This tracking also puts the Fitbit Charge above many of Fitbit’s competitor’s fitness trackers, including the Apple Watch. The Apple Watch has a rather short battery life that must be charged every night. The charge requirement means that the Apple Watch can not really accurately track your sleep, let alone give you detailed information about your sleep stages.

So why is knowing your sleep stages beneficial? Well, when you sleep, you go through a cycle of different stages that can pretty much be broken down into light sleep, deep sleep, and REM sleep, and different things happen during each stage. During light sleep, you are much more likely to be restless or even wake up, while deep sleep is often the time where your body does the most physical and mental healing; finally, REM sleep is when you have your most vivid dreams which can also cause some restlessness.

If you are waking a lot during the night or spending very little time in deep sleep, you are likely going to feel fatigued the next day, even if you got a full eight hours of sleep. Having the kind of detailed information that the Fitbit Charge provides you with will allow you to understand how you feel the next day and alert you of any sleep patterns that could be troubling so you can reach out to a health care professional. Sleep is a key part of both your physical and mental health, so having an accurate understanding of your sleep is so important.

Fitbit Charge 3 vs. Fitbit Charge 4

So, as we mentioned before, there is a newer version of the Fitbit Charge that has been released called the Fitbit Charge 4, and while we think the Fitbit Charge 3 is still an amazing fitness tracker, there are some new features that you will be missing out on if you go with the older version.

First, the Fitbit Charge 4 has built-in GPS, which means you would not have to keep your phone with you when working out. The Fitbit Charge 3 does have the ability to track distance through GPS, but only if you have your phone on you.

We mentioned above that there is a special edition of the Fitbit Charge 3 that does come with Fitbit Pay, but the regular version does not have those capabilities built-in. That means that if you are wanting to buy something while you are out exercising, you once again would need to bring your phone or your wallet, but that is not the case with the Charge 4.

The Fitbit Charge 4 also has the ability to control Spotify from the device, allows you to personalize the watch face, allows you to set target heartrates, and has automatic syncing. Whether or not these features are important enough to buy the Charge 4 over the Charge 3 really depends on personal preference and budget.

Fitbit Charge 3 vs. Fitbit Inspire HR

So how does it compares to another popular Fitbit tracker, the Fitbit Inspire HR? Both watches are fairly popular and have some unique benefits.

Let’s start with how they are similar. Both the Fitbit Charge 3 and the Fitbit Inspire HR are affordable trackers with many similar features such as step tracking, distance tracking, calories burned tracking, guided breathing, and sleep tracking. Additionally, neither device has built-in GPS or music control, so you are still required to bring your phone with you when working out.

The main thing that separates the Fitbit Inspire HR from the Fitbit Charge 3 is its versatility. If you are not a fan of wearing a watch all day, the Fitbit Inspire HR can be clipped onto the waistband of your clothes or onto bras.

However, there are several features that the Fitbit Charge 3 has that makes it stand out when compared to the Fitbit Inspire HR. The first being the battery lasts an entire two days more than the Fitbit Inspire HR despite the fact that it also does more. Furthermore, it has better swim tracking and a SpO2 sensor. These additional features make the Fitbit Charge 3, in our opinion, the better option of the two.

Battery Life

When it comes to fitness trackers, battery life is one of the most important features. It can be really frustrating if your tracker dies in the middle of the workout or has such a short battery life that you cannot use it as a sleep tracker. You do not have to worry about any of that with the Fitbit Charge 3.

A single, full charge of the Fitbit Charge 3 battery can last up to seven days. Of course, that does depend some on use and other factors, but you can expect to get close to that duration even with frequent use of all the various features.

This seven-day battery life puts it ahead of many of the other fitness trackers on the market, including the Apple Watch. Though the Apple Watch does have fitness tracking capabilities, it is used regularly as a phone. Because of this, you usually have to charge the Apple Watch every night, which prevents it from being a reliable sleep tracker.

There are some fitness trackers out there that advertise battery lives of up to a year, but those batteries are not usually rechargeable, and the trackers lack tons of different features such as a quality screen, sleep tracking, heart rate monitoring, etc.

Reliability and Ease of Use

It is really easy to set up the Fitbit Charge 3 as soon as you take it out of the box. It is also quite simple to get it paired up with your phone through the Fitbit app to fully analyze and control the different things that it tracks. This means that you do not have to plan to spend a full afternoon figuring out how to set it up like some devices on the market.

It is worth mentioning that there are quite a lot of menus and options in the Fitbit Charge 3. While this does mean that it has a number of different, really cool features, it also means that it can be a bit complicated to figure out at first. However, it does come with a straightforward guide that will explain all the different menus, features, and where to find them.

Accuracy

Accuracy is another really important feature to consider when you are looking at different fitness trackers. Trackers do not do you any good if they are not accurately reporting your information. Because the Fitbit Charge 4 tracks so many different things, we are going to break it down a little bit.

As far as distance tracking, the Fitbit Charge 3 does okay when it comes to accuracy. It does not have built-in GPS, so it is not nearly as accurate as fitness trackers that do, such as the Charge 4, but it does stand up against other watches that are also lacking GPS.

We have also found that the Fitbit Charge 3 is decently accurate with Heart Rate monitoring. While we do not recommend you use it as a medical device, it is accurate enough to provide you with the information you need to keep up with your general fitness.

The features with the best accuracy are the sleep tracker and the step tracker. The sleep tracker, as we mentioned before, provides a lot of detailed information about your sleep, and it has all been proven to be highly accurate when compared to other fitness sleep trackers. The step tracker is also very accurate, which is good as that is one of the most basic fitness tracker requirements.

Style

As far as style, the Fitbit Charge 3 is a pretty standard fitness watch. It is unisex, and it is small enough that if you want to wear it with another watch, you can.

However, it still has a relatively large screen that is great for receiving notifications and calls. The display is monochromatic, which gets mixed reviews: some people absolutely love the look while others wish there was so more color to it.

The band that the watch comes with is also a pretty standard band, but there are tons of other options that you can choose from so it fits your style. They are also extremely easy to interchange, so if you want, you can get multiple bands to change out for different activities, days, and events.

The design is also very durable, so you do not have to worry about it breaking with just regular day-to-day wear, including during a wide variety of workouts.

Water Resistance vs Waterproof

Almost every fitness tracker on the market today claims that it is water-resistant, but that does not really mean it can get all that wet. Most watches that are labeled “water-resistant” can only be splashed a little or hit by a little rain and still function. If you jump in the pool or forget to take it off while you are washing dishes, many other trackers would stop functioning properly.

However, the Fitbit Charge 3 is waterproof, or also referred to as swim-proof. That means that it can be completely submerged and still function, so you can use it to track swimming just like you can use it to track land exercises. In fact, that Fitbit Charge 3 is completely waterproof for up to 50 meters down, which really sets it apart from many of the other trackers on the market.

Can the Fitbit Charge 3 Make My Life Better?

Our main goal at Dilemmas is to help people find products that will improve their lives, which is precisely why we wanted to tell you about the Fitbit Charge 3. We truly do believe that this watch can make your life better if you use it consistently, but you do still have to put in the work. Setting goals and tracking fitness and sleep will not benefit you if you do not do anything with it.

However, if you are putting in the work, having the information can really help you make informed decisions about your health. All the different tracking options, from heart rate to steps to sleep, can help you develop the habits of a healthy lifestyle and get rid of unhealthy ones. Doing just that can help create a better quality of life!